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Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Lynne Varner editorial on Education Reform

I don't pay much attention to education reform bills in Olympia. First, I don't think there is much I can do about them. Second, I don't think they have much impact on what happens in schools. Third, I don't think that state legislators have any idea of what should be done or how to do it. Fourth, the legislators will write education reform legislation in response to political pressures, not to improve education.

Yet the League of Education Voters and a lot of other groups are all very involved in these education reform battles in Olympia and a lot of other people seem to think that they are important. So, just in case I'm wrong, reading this editorial may give you some insight into what the fight is over.

These RTT-oriented education-reform bills are controversial for a reason. There is NO strong peer-reviewed scientific research base that showing that these reforms are in the best interest of kids.

The trend in National Assesssment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results, in fact, stand as strong evidence that reform efforts in other states have been UNSUCCESSFUL.

In states and districts that have pursued a strong reform agenda, with emphasis on promoting student score growth on state standardized assessments, these are the typical results:

1) Districts show strong growth in student scores on STATE standardized assessement

2) The Same District is showing NO progress on the National Assesssment of Educational Progress (NAEP).

The NAEP is the "gold-standard" for measuring academic achievement.

I feel that the representatives of the people are not doing their job right if they vote in favor of legislation that the people don't support.

If you really believe that these bills are in the best interest of students, schools, and community, then work harder to convince the people. Wait until the people are convinced before you support these bills.

The possible winnings from the RTT competition are NOT sufficient justification for passing the Education reform bills.

I am very concerned that Education Reform is going to degrade our public schools.

I do NOT favor the Education Reform Bills being contemplated by this legislature.

It is very clear to me, however, that these bills will greatly advance the interests of people who want to deprofessionalize K-12 public education, and channel public K-12 dollars into private hands in the most profit-friendly ways.

Please do not sell out public education to private interests. Vote NO on the education reform bills before the Legislature in this session.

== ALTERNATIVE LETTER #5 ==

Subject: Education Reform Bills are an assault on civil rights

I am writing from the League of Education Voters (LEV) website form.

I do not agree with the LEV pro-RTT position.

One area that concerns me is the reforms in RTT that target "Title I" schools. These are schools serving high proportions of economically disadvantaged children. RTT puts a high priority in "turning around" persistently low achieving Title I schools through a mechanism called "intervention."

I favor school intervention in weak schools, provided that it is humane, fair, and constructive. The four school intervention models described in RTT, are not fair, humane, and constructive.

In fact, these conventional models of intervention, and especially the three most extreme forms of intervention listed therein, are severely disruptive to the socio-academic lives of the directly affected students.

There is no strong evidence to show that the interventions described in RTT are anything but socially and academically disruptive to the affected students.

There is very good reason to believe that socioacademic disruption is a strong negative correlate of on-time graduation rate.

In the larger cities, the student populations are disproportionately minority. Thus it is minority students that will be disproportionately affected by school interventsions. This is why these Education Reform bills constitute an assault on civil rights.

Education Acroynms

Advanced Learning - SPS' three-tier program for advanced learners. Made up of APP, Spectrum and ALOs. (Note: the name of the district program is "Advanced Learning Services and Programs" but these three programs fall under "Highly Capable Services" of AL Services and Programs.

ALO - Advanced Learning Opportunity, the third tier of SPS' Advanced Learning program

AP - Advanced Placement. A national program of college-level classes given in high schools.

APP - Accelerated Progress Program. One of the levels of the Advanced Learning Program. NOTE: the name of this program is now "HIGHLY CAPABLE COHORT." This change occurred in 2014.

ASB - Associated Student Body. High school leadership groups.

AYP - Adequate Yearly Progress. Part of NCLB.

BEX - Building Excellence. SPS' capital renovation/rebuilding program that is funded via the BEX levy. Every 3 years there is the Operations levy and either the BEX or BTA levies as those two levies rotate in six year cycles).

BLT - Building Leadership Team. Staff members at a school who meet regularly to discuss building issues.

BTA - Buildings, Technology, Academics. The major maintenance/other capital fund for SPS. Originally BTA was to cover major maintenance like HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning), roofs, waterlines, etc.) but now covers wide swaths of items like athletic fields, technology and funding academic needs.

CAICEE - Community Advisory Committee for Investing in Educational Excellence. Created by former Superintendent Manhas in 2008, to issue a report about reform recommendations for SPS.

CSIP - Continuous School Improvement Plan, the plan for improvement for each school as required by state law.

EOC - End of Course Assessments, given in math and science, required for high school graduationESEA - Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the federal law that governs education, includes the NCLB accountability provisions.

e-STEM or e-STEAM - STEM or STEAM curriculum with an environmental focus.

FACMAC - Facilities and Capacity Management Advisory Committee. A district committee comprises of an all-volunteer citizen group created in 2012 to help bring research and ideas to capacity management issues in the district.

FERPA - Family Education Rights and Privacy Act. A federal law that protects students' privacy

FRL - Free and reduced lunch.

FTE - Full Time Equivalent

FY - Fiscal Year

Highly Capable Services - NEW name (as of 2014) as umbrella name for these programs: Highly Capable Cohort (formerly APP), Spectrum and ALO (Advanced Learning Opportunities).

HSPE - High School Proficiency Exam, state assessment that replaced the WASL for 10th graders, required for graduation

HQT - Highly Qualified Teacher, a standard set by federal law

IA - Instructional Assistant

IB - International Baccalaureate program. An international program of advanced classes that can either be taken as stand alone or as part of an overall IB program.

IDEA - Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The federal law that governs special education

MAP - Measures of Academic Progress. A computer-based adaptive assessment made by NWEA and originally purchased by the district for use as a district-wide formative assessment but now used for a wide variety of purposes.

MSP - Measurement of Student Progress, the state proficiency assessment that replaced the WASL for students in grades 1-8

MTSS - Multi-Tiered Systems of Support

NCLB - No Child Left Behind, a provision of the federal education law, ESEA, introduced during the George W. Bush administration